Fri May 15, 2015 @ 1:00pm Pacific - Fri May 15, 2015 @ 5:30pm Pacific
Salk Institute - Conrad T. Prebys Auditorium

Access to the live webcast for this symposium will be provided here on Friday, May 15 starting at 1:00 PM (Pacific Time). Viewers will need to be logged into their user account to gain access, but are not required to register for this symposium. GERMAN VIEWERS: due to YouTube's restrictions on live streaming the live broadcast will not be available from Germany.

Summary: Our early ancestors evolved on a drying, cooling, and highly variable planet, which has led to competing ideas as to how climate may have shaped human evolution. Equally compelling is the question of how and when humans began to affect their surroundings to such an extent as to become a force of climate change, with disruptions affecting the globe today. According to earth scientists, paleontologists, and scholars in other fields, the planet has entered a new geological phase – the Anthropocene, the age of humans. How did this transition of our species from an apelike ancestor in Africa to the current planetary force occur? What are the prospects for the future of world climate, ecosystems, and our species? This symposium presents varied perspectives on these critical questions from earth scientists, ecologists, and paleoanthropologists.